Celebrating the Journey Home: the Reintroduction of BlackFooted Ferrets in Canada
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Conservation of Rare Reptiles and Amphibians: Should We Conserve Isolated Populations? Pamela Rutherford Department of Biology, Brandon University Abstract – Many species at risk occur in small, disjunct populations and this is certainly true for prairie reptiles and amphibians. From a conservation perspective, geographically peripheral populations may not be of concern if they are only listed because they occur in separate jurisdictions but the species’ range is widespread. In contrast, if they are genetically or morphologically unique populations, they may have considerable conservation value. I discuss the conservation of rare amphibians and reptiles in this context, and consider the strengths and weaknesses of focusing conservation efforts on isolated populations. Celebrating the Journey Home: The Reintroduction of Blackfooted Ferrets in Canada Bill Bristol Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Joanne Tuckwell Parks Canada Abstract – After 5 years of planning, the Black-footed Ferret has returned home to Grasslands National Park in southwest Saskatchewan. The last confirmed sighting of a ferret in Canada was in the early 1900s, and ferrets were thought to be extinct until a small population was discovered in Wyoming. That discovery prompted the start of a captive breeding program that has produced over 6000 kits and contributes to the reintroduction program in the U.S., Mexico and now Canada. Seven zoos across the U.S. and Canada breed ferrets that are all sent to a pre-conditioning facility in Colorado before being reintroduced. This pre-conditioning facility is run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and is a part of the Species Survival Program. The maintenance of whatever genetic diversity is left in this popula- tion is a high priority for the program in order to minimize inbreeding depression and maximize the success at each reintroduction site. The successes or failures of each reintroduction site are shared across North America through the Black-footed Ferret Reintroduction Implementation Team. The Canadian reintroduction and the yearly monitoring that is planned for this population will provide valuable information for the species at the northern extent of its range where the environmental conditions and the prey populations differ from the reintroduction sites at the central and southern parts of its range. Through research partnerships we hope to maximize our learning, regardless of the final outcome. 99 Is it Time for a Paradigm Shift in Prairie Rare Plant Conservation? Nancy P. Sather Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Abstract – Protection priorities and management and recovery practices in conservation biology change not only because of advances in scientific knowledge, but in response to public perception, politics and prevailing paradigms. Because public, government and donor acceptance of emerging practices is so hard won, once they have gained acceptance, prevailing paradigms tend to overshadow potentially useful approaches that do not fit the mold. The paradigm I question is our increasing reliance on standardized databases and statutory protection for rare plants, coupled with the shift of emphasis in protection and management to multi-partner, large landscape projects intended to address the needs of multiple species. I suggest a renewed emphasis on species-specific recovery for rare plants based on species autecology, habitat needs, and population genetics. To best accomplish the protection of the rarest of the rare, we may need to reconsider reliance on statutory regulation and in situ protection. All opinions expressed in this paper are my own and do not reflect the position or policies of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources or the Prairie Bush Clover and Western Prairie Fringed Orchid Recovery Teams. We wouldn’t be here today if we didn't ascribe to Aldo Inconsistent criteria across jurisdictions result in dis- Leopold’s simple mandate: “To keep every cog and crepancies in legal protection, often leaving the ‘mother wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.” lode’ of a species unprotected. Because documented But how? And where? Since the emergence of the con- occurrences outweigh threat in some listing jurisdic- servation ethic, we have come a long way. Conservation tions, this apparent security could be compromised by of rare species is an integral part of a much wider simple changes in land use. An example is Cooper’s range of efforts than it was when I first entered the Milkvetch (Astragalus neglectus), a widespread but practice in 1979. Nonetheless, some of our greatest suc- usually rare legume whose range extends from Virginia cesses may today be a double-edged sword. to Saskatchewan. Globally-ranked G4, the species is Our present state and provincial data centers are an listed as apparently secure in Minnesota, but at some outgrowth of The Nature Conservancy’s Natural Heri- level of risk in all other jurisdictions where it occurs tage methodology, which at birth had the mission of (NatureServe 2010). Although the species is apparently saving “the last of the least and the best of the rest.” responsive to disturbance or lack of competition, its Increasingly, as on-the-ground protection has moved tolerance of herbicides is unknown. A simple change in toward large landscapes (the best of the rest), we have right-of-way management in Minnesota from mowing to relied on listing and statutory protection to conserve herbicide application could jeopardize the species the last of the least. In the world of rare plant pro- (Schultz 2003). tection, I believe this reliance is counter-productive in The patchwork of listing criteria, statutes and permits some cases. resulting from the trends listed above hampers range- Many jurisdictions use and rely on the standardized pro- wide research and recovery efforts. This situation is cedures of BIOTICS, the NatureServe occurrence and life exacerbated when a species’ North American range strad- history database used by most Natural Heritage prog- dles international boundaries. Attempts to conduct range- rams, state surveys and Conservation Data Centers. Data wide research or integrate recovery planning are gener- entered into individual program databases is often sub- ally modest efforts with few players. Here, plant con- ject to range-wide standardized procedures. servationists could take a lesson from bird and mammal biologists, who have developed transnational working Listing generally takes into account only those occur- groups large and strong enough to more successfully rences within a given jurisdiction. With the exception overcome hobbling bureaucracies. of Canada’s Species at Risk Act (SARA) and the United States’ Endangered Species Act (ESA), most listing Listed plant species are generally subject to statutory occurs at the state and provincial level based on locally- protection. In some jurisdictions, significant staff and determined criteria. Often the number of documented monetary resources are spent in environmental review occurrences outweighs life history traits or present and and permitting for populations whose long-term via- potential threats. bility may be in question. 100 Over the past decade and a half, protection efforts have for some species. The Western Prairie Fringed-orchid shifted from small isolated habitats for selected rare (Platanthera praeclara) may be an example of such a species to multi-partner, large-landscape projects and species. Listed as endangered in Canada and threatened corridors intended to protect multiple habitats and in the United States, this tall grass prairie orchid is enig- species. Although these areas provide greater opportunity matically declining from south to north. Apparently de- to restore pre-settlement ecological functions, increas- pendent on wet prairie or subsurface groundwater (Hof ing reliance on large landscape portfolios could place et al. 2002, USFWS 2009) and specialized Sphingid poll- narrowly endemic plants and habitat specialists at risk. inators (USFWS 2009), the species’ genetics are known Examples are plants of cliffs, rock outcrops, talus slopes, from only a handful of populations (Sharma 2002), not alvar, and calcareous seepage fens. These species are including the population in southern Manitoba (the larg- among the rarest of the rare (Rabinowitz 1981). est and apparently most viable in the range). Analyses based on observations at Pipestone National Monument We need to augment the increasing interest in molecular in southwestern Minnesota suggest that flowering is high- genetics with a renewed emphasis on species autecology. ly dependent on the timing of precipitation in the species’ Only by coupling an understanding of intra- and inter- phenological cycle (Willson et al. 2006). The species is population genetic variability with an understanding of declining in the southern end of its range but holding its the nuances of species’ life history and phenological trig- own in Canada (USFWS 2009). Despite strong commun- gers will we be positioned to access which species are ication between researchers and conservation programs in likely to be most resilient and which are at greatest risk. the two countries, formal recovery of the species follows The relationship between life history traits and genetics is the guidelines of two independent recovery plans (Davis not always as dichotomous as the literature suggests 1995, Environment Canada 2006, USFWS 1996), with (Hamrick et al. 1979, Cole 2003). For example, Prairie no formal transnational group to coordinate